The Definitive Top 5 Acts Of BIGSOUND 2015

Look, I know what you’re thinking. BIGSOUND was ages ago, you’ve already read every single post-event wrap listing the same old swag of buzz bands with one or two credible choices thrown in the mix, and said buzzbands have already gone on to ink international deals, blowing their modest advance on a legitimate copy of Abelton and a new Macbook with dreams of red hot insurance commercial sync action on the horizon. But guess what fuckers, we’ve taken our time, crunched the fucken numbers, to bring you the absolute best of the best from Australia’s answer to SXSW.

Here, a huge ten days (ten trillion blog years) after the event, we bring you the definitive five acts that showcased the absolute best Australian music has to offer in 2015.

1. Donny Benet

Image: Donny Benet Facebook

It was the night before Bigsound, and all through the Valley, not a creature was stirring, apart from a few hundred delegates bouncing between label showcases trying to suck each respective bar tab dry. One of those showcases was the Rice Is Nice versus Spunk throwdown, reaching fever pitch as headliner Donny Benet took the stage to a relatively sparse attendance – which soon grew as a swell of attendees were shut out from other venues and had the fortuity to wind up in front of the week’s best set. It started off hot, and just got hotter, with Donny reciprocating his request to “Gimme Your Heat” with exponential resolve, defying the very laws of thermodynamics.

2. Donny Benet

Image: Donny Benet Facebook

Lemme tell ya folks, the guy was hot. Donny worked the Moog like it was an extension of his being, slinging a guitar like prime time Knopfler. It was sheer pandemonium, bringing on Bigsound’s only instance of stage invasion (look, I didn’t see every god damn set the week had to offer, but I heard zero reports of stage invasion elsewhere), with frenetic dancing all over, Donny calm, focussed within the eye of the storm, never missing a beat. This is a professional at work.

3. Donny Benet

Image: Donny Benet Facebook

You think that one performance would be enough, that every international scribe worth their salt would be rushing to the nearest public phone to scream “BREAK THE PLATES, WE GOT A LIVE ONE HERE”. But Donny didn’t rest on his laurels. Oh no. Back at it less than 24-hours later, he returned to the stage to stake his claim at the Woolly Mammoth front bar, working the more spacious arena like a seasoned pro. You know why he worked it like a seasoned pro? Because he is a seasoned pro! It should have been compulsory viewing for every single act attending the conference. This was a keynote fuckin’ masterclass in How To Do It. Take notes or hit the road, kids.

4. Donny Benet

Image: Donny Benet Facebook

Donny Benet.

5. Donny Benet

Image: Donny Benet Facebook

Back to that Tuesday night Rice Is Nice x Spunk party. Did I mention there was an encore? A freakin’ encore in a conference environment? Unheard of. But there he was, achieving the impossible with the smoking, and informative, “Girls Of Japan”, providing an exquisite digestif after the heady rush of manic stage-invasion. It doesn’t get better than this folks.

Honourable Mention:
High Tension were fucking sick.

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